I remember doing bluray re-encodes back in that day. x264 was simply better as an encoder when compared to vp8 and you knew that at least in terms of software everyone had a compatible decoder in their preferred codec-pack.
Oh yes, with uh websites where you download said re-encodes, there'd always be a few uploads with weird encoding and the author screaming in the comments that it's better and you gotta use the bleeding edge VLC before complaining that it doesn't work.
